Tag: snakes

by Christine Healy

July 16th is World Snake Day! This day of recognition was established to increase awareness
and raise appreciation for these most polarizing of creatures. People tend to have an extreme
opinion when it comes to snakes; They are loved and revered by some, loathed and vilified by
many. Mythology, religion, and pop culture are riddled with snake imagery and, though these
media sometimes align them with healing, transformation, and fertility, they often proliferate a
connection between them and evil intentions. Whether learned or not in Greek legend, the
Medusa, with her living locks, is universally recognizable and her beheading is counted among
the greatest achievements of the hero, Perseus. Norse stories give us Jörmungandr, the
serpent son of Loki, hated by and responsible for the death of his uncle, the beloved god Thor.
The Bible symbolizes the devil himself as a snake in the Garden of Eden and, in this form,
provides the temptation responsible for original sin in Christian teachings. More recently, we
watched as ophidiophobia (fear of snakes) became the Achille’s heel of everyone’s favorite
archeology professor, Indiana Jones, and read about how the ability to communicate with
snakes was a defining characteristic of Lord Voldemort, the most notorious dark wizard of all
time.
To be clear, I’m not suggesting that works such as these are responsible for a negative public
perception of snakes. Rather, I think they capitalize on a rampant unease associated with
snakes to encourage their audience to sympathize with the protagonist. The truth is, snakes can
be dangerous, particularly if they are venomous. Snakes can and do kill people, sometimes
stealthily, which defies our view of humans as the universal apex predator. This, naturally,
instills anxiety. But it’s also not the full story.

Continue reading “Happy World Snake Day!”

by Christine Healy, Wildlife Biologist

How do you survey for animals that spend most of their time hidden under leaf litter or wedged between fallen tree limbs and rocks?

In the case of reptiles and amphibians, the answer is to use coverboards!

Coverboards are materials that are intentionally placed within a potential habitat, often along ecotones (where different habitat types- e.g., wetland and forest, field and forest, etc. come together) that trap moisture and retain heat, creating favorable conditions for our “cold-blooded” (ectothermic) friends. Researchers often arrange coverboards in long transects or arrays and collect data on the diversity of the community underneath the boards as compared to the surrounding environment. This technique was used by NJDEP Division of Fish and Wildlife to survey for herptiles in 17 wildlife management areas in the early 2000s (Golden, 2004). A total of 30 species were recorded during the first year of the study, including long-tailed salamanders, pine barrens tree frogs, and northern pine snakes, all of which are listed as threatened in New Jersey.   

Continue reading “Uncovering Urban Reptile and Amphibian Diversity”

by Ethan Gilardi, Wildlife Biologist

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This year marks the long expected return of Brood X, the periodical cicadas found in New Jersey and other northern states. Also know as The Great Eastern Brood, these cicadas emerge from the ground every 17 years in order to molt their skin and emerge into their adult forms to attract mates with their signature droning “BUZZ.” Once eggs are laid, the adult die off, leaving their young to hatch and burrow into the ground where they’ll wait another 17 years to start the process all over again.

The brood emerging this year first burrowed into the ground in 2004, making this species of cicada one of the longest lived insect species!

Not everyone is excited to have these large insects, which can number in the billions, buzzing about, but they’re a favorite snack of an unlikely New Jersey resident: COPPERHEADS.

Many species of wildlife take advantage of these cicada swarms by eating the insects and their shed skin, which serve as a rich source of easy protein. However, you might not have thought snakes like NJ’s copperhead would get in on the party, too!

Tom Davis of patch.com recently wrote about this interesting phenomenon, citing CWF’s wildlife guide!

Check out his article to learn more about Brood X, the cicada lifecycle, and how an unlikely reptile takes advantage of this 17 year phenomenon.

Click here to read more.